Saturday, July 27, 2013

July 23 - British Library Center for Conservation and more...

Day 26

Today we went to the conservation center at the British Library. There is a team of 6 who work on conserving the items that come through the center. They hold about 150 million items. They have to constantly estimate and create bids on how many hours it will take to do the restoration or conservation of the item in hand. Each team member works with different departments. There is a dialog that is built between the conservators and the curators of the items in hand.

We got to view a 1649 dictionary that was getting a new spine. To conserve this, the old leather is pulled up, new leather is put down, and then the original is laid back over. They try to keep it as original as possible when working with these old books. All the items they work with need to be in a working order since they are a part of a reference library.

We also got to see how gold finishing was done. We got to see the differences between gold leaf and gold foil. Leaf is much more delicate and time consuming to use. Gold leaf is used on leather while gold foil is used on cloth.

Part 2 - Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour

This evening was a total blast! The studio tour is amazing! I had so much fun. SPOILER ALERT! If you do not want to know about my experience and the tour, do not read any further.

When you enter the the experience you feel like you are in a movie theater. We start off in a room and watch a video talking about how it all came into being and. Then we go into this room like a movie theater. We watch a short video clip where Emma, Rupert, and Daniel talk about their experience and then they walk through the door. The screen rises to reveal the door they had just walked through. This takes us into the Great Hall of Hogwarts. There was so much to see. Each of the house tables were set up and costumes for each house. The head table had all the teachers costumes and plaques with info about each actor that played that character. From the Great Hall we moved into this huge room filled with various props and costumes and sets.

I saw some beautiful sets from the potions classroom to the Gryffindor common room and the boys dorm. There was also Hagrid's hut, Dumbledore's office, Professor Umbridge's office, many more costumes and so many things to see. After wandering through stage J, you step outside to find another world. I got a Butterbeer and took photos of the Knight Bus, Hagrid's motorbike, the Weasley's Ford Anglia, Privet Drive, Potter Cottage, and the most amazing bridge ever. There were even giant chess pieces from the giant chess scene in the first movie. This was a nice place to chill for a bit on such a nice evening.

I continued on to stage K. Here we delved into the movie magic that was make-up, hair, and even creature development. The creature rooms were insane. I loved Buckbeak. Aragog was a bit frightening though. Then there was Diagon Alley with all the shops. This even included Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Continuing on we got to see drafts and sketches of artwork as the films were being created. It amazes me the time and detail that go into some of these pieces. After weaving your way through some of this artwork, you turn a corner and spill out into the most incredible and amazing site ever.... a scale model of Hogwarts Castle. In it's entirety. I almost cried it was so incredibly beautiful. They had lighting scheme set up that flowed through the day as the sun rose and the sun set. I couldn't stop staring. Then after soaking in the castle, you get dumped into the huge shop. There were clothes and wands and even lots of candy. Totally worth the trip out!